The Desert Rose Trilogy
by Sunny Rabbiera
Summary: In the East Desert someone is making trouble for Robotnik, and Sonic and Sally go out to investigate. What they find is a bunch of nomads but can they be trusted? And who exactly is the mysterious Desert Rose? Somewhat SatAM based
1. The Desert Rose

Authors note:

Fan Fiction:

A fictional account written by a fan of a show, movie, book, or video game to explore themes and ideas that will not or cannot be explored via the originating medium;

A piece of fiction within a fandom utilizing characters and situations from a pre-existing work including (but not limited to) books, television programs, films, and comic strips.

Originality:

1 : the quality or state of being original 2 : freshness of aspect, design, or style 3 : the power of independent thought or constructive imagination.

Imagination:

1.

a. The formation of a mental image of something that is neither perceived as real nor present to the senses.

b. The mental image so formed.

c. The ability or tendency to form such images.

2. The ability to confront and deal with reality by using the creative power of the mind; resourcefulness: handled the problems with great imagination.

3. A traditional or widely held belief or opinion.

4. Archaic

a. An unrealistic idea or notion; a fancy.

b. A plan or scheme.

To all the naysayers, pro segasonic fans (and maybe some SatAM fans) and all the like you should look up these words.

The origins of this story started sometime back in a contest on a forum I participated in where the subject was inserting a segasonic/ archie/ fleetway/ etc character into SatAM.

The desert rose was my entry; it was a relatively decent story. It featured the SatAM version of Amy Rose as I envision her, Rouge, Knuckles, and others. I revised it now and have decided to expand the concept a bit, set between the first and second seasons it is anything but you expect. So here it is the first part of the trilogy, the others will follow soon, enjoy...

The Desert Rose Trilogy, by Tara Ikeda (Ladymecha)

Part One: The Desert Rose

Prologue:

The winds of the east desert blew heavy as sand and polluted dust moved its way across this barren land. Two green eyes looked ahead in both sadness and anger as a lone figure observed the barren lands before it.

It's hard to believe that not so long ago this was a fertile place, filled with plants and trees; but now it is a wasteland, a sad shell of its former self.

Robotnik's coup all those years ago started all this, by destroying the ecology and upsetting the balance of nature.

Only a few who live now remember this place for what it once was, including the lone figure who stood steadfast in this tortured land.

It was the one who guarded this land with an iron rod and fierce determination; the young warrior who hunted the metal demons who helped pollute this place.

Dressed in a tan robe with a hood around its head, this figure roamed the mighty desert keeping an eye out for the flying machines of the metal demons.

A whir came overhead of the figure; the figure looked up and saw something in the skies above it.

A smile came across the figures face, today was its lucky day.

It was a hovercarrier belonging to them, the agents of who made this place so dismal.

The figure waited as the carrier landed and out came two metal demons just as the figure hid itself under a sand dune.

They began to carry out large drums filled with toxic waste out of the carrier and the figure dashed in.

One of the metal demons detected the figure with its usual cry "priority one, detain freedom fighters"

But it was quickly silenced by a strike from the warriors large metal rod, its metal body smashed apart into a hundred pieces as the other metal demon tried to target its foe but it too fell to the power of the figure as the figure broke it as easily as it did the other.

The figure looked on at its handiwork and gave another smile.

"Another days work for the desert rose" said the figure as it walked farther into the desert, back to its hidden home in the endless wasteland.

Act I: Discovery

The treetops of Knothole forest waved as a strong gust of wind came into Knothole village.

It breezed through the village and into the open window of Princess Sally Acorns hut.

Sally felt it caress her face, though her mind was too distracted to take real notice.

Her mind was heavily at work, her brain filled to capacity with thought over what she saw.

A data readout flashed on Nicole's screen, Sally's mind could only guess what it meant.

"Heavy loss of forces in the east desert, unknown enemy at work. Freedom fighter activity suspected however it is unconfirmed."

"Wow" was all Sally could say; she had no idea there was a possibility of yet another freedom fighter group unknown to her or her father.

"It's inconceivable, all this new information we got from Robotnik's computers the other day was very interesting," she said, as she looked it over some more "if this is true it means there might be hope"

She rubbed her temple; she had a large headache that only added to her clouded thoughts.

"The price I pay for being a royal family member I guess," she said aloud

She sighed but soon Sally heard a familiar "whoosh!" coming toward her hut, Sally knew too well who was going to pay her a visit in just a few seconds.

Outside her hut a familiar blue hedgehog stopped by her window and gave her a wave

"Yo Sal!" said Sonic the hedgehog as Sally walked to the window

"Hey Sonic" she replied, "come in here for a sec"

Sonic nodded and soon he opened the door to her hut and came in

"How yah doin Sal?" asked Sonic

"Just fine Sonic, say why don't you and I make a nice trip to Robotropolis today"

"Why you got something new for us to ruin for ol' buttnik?"

"No, but the data we got from Robotnik's computer has my brain at work"

"What do you mean?"

"I will tell you later, but right now I think we should start heading off, the power ring pool should be ready by now anyway"

Sonic put his thumb up "way past cool Sal" as he dashed to the power ring pool.

He arrived there and waited, the power ring pool was always nine seconds slower then what Sonic wanted, to him those nine seconds might as well have been an eternity.

Then the pool glowed as it bubbled, then in a blaze of light a power ring emerged out of the pool,

Sonic grabbed it and said "good ol power ring pool" as he put it in his backpack

He then dashed back to Sally's hut and said, "The Sonic express is up and ready!"

"Alright let's go"

The two then rolled their hands into a fist, they then pulled their fists up their elbows, they then put their fists together twice as they said "lets do it, to it" in harmony as Sonic grabbed Sally's arm and he pair sped off to their destination.

Storm clouds loomed over the bleak city of Robotropolis, its metallic landscape lit only by the thunderclouds filled with demonic lightning.

Ten years ago, it was not like this, there was no Robotnik, there was no endless fighting for freedom but now dark days have come to its citizens.

Sonic and Sally knew this place all too well, they knew that everyone who "lived" here were mere robotic shells of their former selves trapped by the talons of the lunatic who ruled this place.

The pair were crawling up the air ducts of Robotnik's main tower once more to the main control room. For the last hour, they have been crawling up both the air ducts and Jefferies tubes inside Robotnik's main base.

They got to a section right under the command room and Sonic whispered "So Sal, what are we

doing here today?"

"Well according to that data we have there is information that says that Robotnik's patrols have been disappearing in the east desert. I want to see if there is another freedom fighter group out there and if we can ally with them." Said Sally flatly

"I see, but you still have not told me why we are here," said Sonic

"Well we got to get to the desert somehow, so I want to know when Robotnik's going to send out another patrol to that area so we can sneak aboard one of the patrol vehicles."

"I get ya Sal." Said Sonic

The two crawled up another Jefferies tube and another air duct to a place right above Robotnik's control area.

They saw him sitting there in his chair as Snively said "sir there is another interruption in the east desert; SwatBot patrols 1XXJA2 and 1XXJA3 have not reported back."

"Not again Snively, this is the third time this week."

"Yes sir, I am about to send out three SwatBot patrols to that area and see if we can draw out the attacker and if this happens again we can take more drastic action."

"Very well Snively, keep me informed."

"Yes sir" said Snively as he went to the control panel he then said, "SwatBot units 1XXJA4 through 1XXJB1 go to hangar D7 and head out to the east desert."

"That's our cue," said Sally with a whisper, she and Sonic started to crawl back into the Jefferies tube.

They took the same basic route they did to enter the building, but this time around they headed to hangar D7 which was ten decks below them.

The two made there way to the hangar and once they got there Sally opened the gate to the Jefferies tube and said "you first Sonic"

"Right on Sal" said Sonic, he ran on ahead of her and started to do his work, he ran about and distracted many of the SwatBot's as Sally followed him and hopped into one of the hovercraft's that was just about to leave, its SwatBot crew was on the other side blasting away at Sonic.

Sonic spotted Sally's arm waving at him from inside the hovercraft and Sonic knew what he had to do, he ran back inside the Jefferies tube as the SwatBot's ran after him.

They looked about and saw no sign of him; they walked back to their stations as Sonic came out of the tube once more, he darted and dashed behind crates and barrels to the hovercraft Sally was in and dashed into it.

For Sonic and Sally, the ride to the desert could not be any longer then it was, it was a nightmare staying quiet for all that time.

All the way the pair both feared that one of them would sneeze or do something to blow their limited cover in the hovercraft.

They could not talk or whisper, any noise would alert the SwatBot's to their presence.

It took at least an hour to get to the desert, the hovercraft finally landed and the SwatBots got out.

Sonic turned to Sally and said, "Let me handle these two"

He then leapt out of the hovercraft and then took out the SwatBots by crashing right into them with his spin attack.

Soon Sally came out of the craft and said, "Well done as usual Sonic"

"Thank you, thank you," said Sonic as he took a few bows

"Now get down, the area is still filled with enemy craft," she said

Sonic then ducked as he and Sally hid behind a sand dune, another hovercraft came into the area to inspect the one below it.

"Great, its gonna notice no ones home in there" said Sonic

"Hopefully whatever is causing so much trouble for Robotnik out here will interfere before anything happens" said Sally

The hovercraft then landed and its occupants came out, at least four SwatBots came out to inspect the other craft.

"Possible freedom fighter activity, investigate" said one

The four bots then moved out as Sally said, "they can be here at any minute"

"We can handle them," said Sonic

"But Sonic they are too close to the other hovercraft, they can easily send for help if just one of them gets away"

"You're right, well might as well prepare a party for em" said Sonic

Just then, the pair spotted something in the distance, a tan robed cloaked figure make it's way toward the SwatBot's.

It then dashed at them with great speed as it pulled out a large metal rod and knocked one of the

SwatBot's down, the other SwatBots saw it and started to shoot it. But the figure dodged their shots and came in to deliver a fatal blow to one of them.

"That is wicked," whispered Sonic as he watched onward

"Priority one, detain freedom fighters" said another SwatBot as it too was sliced down by the figure

The final one tried to get to the hovercraft but before it could, the cloaked figure knocked it out as well.

"Did you see that? That cloaked warrior took them down in no time!" cried Sally quietly

"Even I am impressed," said Sonic "whoever did that was like lightning"

The figure then started to walk away as Sonic said, "Let's go and talk to whoever this is"

Sally was taken aback "Sonic we don't know if this is an ally or not"

"Don't worry Sal; I am going to give em the ol hedgehog charm!"

"Sonic, wait!" cried Sally, but she was too late

Sonic ran to the hooded figure and said, "Hi I am Sonic, pleased to meet ya"

The figure turned about, but then began to trust away at Sonic with its long rod

"Hey, wait a sec!" cried Sonic as the figure swung at him

It lunged at him with great force, it then began to dash about at speeds Sonic thought only he could do.

"Can't we talk about this?" asked Sonic

The figure jabbed at him again and said, "No, get away from me!"

It threw some more blows at Sonic as he grabbed the figures rod

"Hey I don't want to hurt you, I am a friend!"

"Like I believe that blue boy," said the figure as it came at him again, it pulled back on the staff and fell on the ground, it slowly got up but its hood fell off.

The face of a female pink hedgehog looked up at Sonic as he said, "Hey, you're a girl!"

"Like duh, I am Amy Rose Hedgehog leader and protector of the east desert nomads. But you can call me the desert rose!"

She swung her staff once more at Sonic as he cried "but I am not an enemy, I hate Robotnik as much as you probably do!"

"Perhaps, but you still have not proved a thing!"

Amy swung again, but this time Sally interfered by grabbing onto Amy's rod. Amy looked in her direction and looked at the princess right in the eye.

"Why its you..." said Amy in disbelief as Sally quickly replied, "Yes it's me Amy, long time no see."

Amy slowly calmed down "thank goodness its you Princess"

"Yeh I am glad to see you too Amy" replied Sally

"Thanks" said Amy "so how are things on your end then Sally, I heard your group is doing quite well"

"Yes indeed, but can you please stop attacking Sonic before we reminisce?"

"You mean this is the rambunctious hedgehog you used to tell me about, my apologies then." Amy pulled her weapon back as Sonic looked puzzled

"You know this crazy girl Sal?" asked Sonic

"Yes I do, she is the heir to the Rose crest legion, a secret branch of my father's security service that only my family knew about. She used to live in a town here and my father always took me to see her when he was with her father."

Amy nodded and said, "Yes, sorry for attacking you but things have been terrible here. Sally my town is gone, Mallikad is no more."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Amy," said Sally

Amy nodded and said "let's go to my hideout, I will show you around my place."

"Okay, come along Sonic," said Sally as she and Sonic moved off into the desert with their newfound companion.

Act II: The Ruined Kingdom of Mallikad

Princess Sally Acorn and Sonic could only look on in horror and wonder at the sight before them, the ruins of the once great kingdom of Mallikad stood there in front of them like a ghost from a sad past.

Sally could only remember what it looked like before; this was once a beautiful city that rivaled even Mobotropolis in its grace and splendor.

But now it was a sad husk of its former self, once the site of a beautiful city it is now a reflection of the wasteland around it.

Its former white spires were now blackened, the former great palace now torn to shreds.

Signs of war were all over the place, every building, spire and tower was ripped apart by both the wind and Robotnik's armies.

"There it is; the remains of Mallikad my home." said Amy

"My goodness, look at it, even Robotropolis is in better shape then this," replied Sally

"Yeh this place is mondo wrecked" chimed Sonic

Amy's eye then shed a tear as she said "yes, this place was once a kingdom too, an ally of King Acorn. The Rose crest was mainly from here, when we allied with King Acorn we swore to protect him at any cost. During the Great War, the two kingdoms became one and we beat the enemy back to where they came from. Mallikad stood as a city of peace, but then Robotnik came. He laid waste to this land after he took everybody to Robotropolis. There are a few survivors here including me and four others, and man it's been rough."

"We can see why, but how do you live in this place after what happened?" asked Sally

"You will find out very soon" replied Amy "Come I will introduce you to my allies."

Amy pulled out a small device and clicked a button, before them the ground opened up as Amy said

"Well get on in"

Sonic and Sally followed her into the complex and looked about.

It was basically a sewer tunnel, cleaned out and modified for this purpose, the door closed behind the group as they walked farther into the tunnel.

"This is quite a place you have here Amy," said Sonic "Robotnik must hardly bother you down here."

"Yes, but lately his patrols have gotten more and more erratic here and we have grown concerned. For the last week I have had to take out several patrols that threatened our security here, it's been real rough."

"I bet," said Sally as the two came to the end of the tunnel to what looked like a dead end.

Amy put her hands out and said "Mallikad"

The tunnel opened and the group walked into a very large room and before Sonic and Sally stood a village of metal, a complete contrast to the naturalistic looks of Knothole.

Buildings were made out of sewer pipe and metal and for Sonic and Sally; it looked almost like

Robotropolis though one could tell there were live people occupying this place.

"Welcome to New Mallikad, it is not much I know but it is home for my group and I" said Amy "I know you may find it unusual but we had to improvise quite a bit."

"I understand," said Sally, but before they moved forward someone landed in front of them, a female bat dressed in red that Sally knew was the uniform of the rose crest.

"I see you brought us some guests eh Amy?" said the bat

Amy nodded and said "Sonic, Sally meet Rouge my chief of staff and fellow rose crest member."

"Hello" said Sonic and Sally together

Another figure came up to them, a male red echidna that looked quite tough

"Hey Amy, who are these two may I inquire" he said in a distrustful tone "you know I don't like strangers."

"Don't worry these two are allies" said Amy "this is Knuckles another fellow guardsman, he doesn't trust anyone so don't take him offensively"

"Alright" said Sally

They moved farther into the town and another figure appeared a large sized male cat.

He came to the three and said "Hello Amy, you have some new fighters to join us?"

"Yeh in a way Big, these two are Sonic and Sally from the outside"

"Hi" said Sally

"Hello yourself" bellowed Big

Amy nodded and said, "He has no real name so we call him Big, we found him unconscious in the city after Robotnik's attack. He has no memory of who he is but he's good muscle"

"Well nice to meet you big guy" said Sonic

Big nodded as Amy moved out in front of the two and said, "There is one last person I want you to meet, but you may not like what you are going to see."

The three made their way to a large shack and Amy opened the door, inside was a cell with a small female rabbit Workerbot inside of it.

Amy came up to the cell and said, "This is Cream, someone we took from Robotnik's mines. I know her because we took her in after the destruction of Mallikad. But one day on a mission, she got captured and was made into the robot you see before you. Out of pity we took her back here but so far we have been unable to free her."

"That's pretty sad, roboticizing a small child," said Sally

"Well we could always try the power ring on her," said Sonic

"You mean that you have something on you that can free her?" asked Amy

"Yeh sorta" said Sonic "we used it on my Uncle and it works for the most part but it doesn't work for long. But we can give it a shot I guess"

Amy nodded and said, "Alright, go for it."

Sally took the power ring out of her carrier and gave it to Sonic, he then came up to the cell and said "Amy I think you should come here, this works better when someone this girl knows is around."

Amy nodded and came along side of Sonic

The robotic rabbit came up to them and cried "Priority one, detain freedom fighters!"

It reached out as Sonic put the power ring in her hands; Amy came up to the robotic rabbit and said

"Cream, it's me Amy your friend. Please come back to us! "

The robotic rabbit began to blink its red robotic eyes and looked at Amy; she looked up and said

"Amy, I... I'm... I'm free, I'm free!"

Cream was jumping for joy clapping her metallic hands with glee.

Amy smiled "Cream it is so good to have you back."

She unlocked Creams cell and the robotic rabbit came out

Amy hugged her as Sally said, "just be careful, and keep an eye out on her. She can revert to a robotic state at any time"

Amy nodded as they walked out of the captivity area.

Back in Robotropolis Snively came up to Robotnik; he was very worried, as he knew he had some bad news for his cruel uncle.

Snively really hated doing his dirtywork, but until the time was right, Snively just did what his hated uncle asked.

He came to Robotnik's chair and said, "Sir, SwatBot units 1XXA9 and 1XXB1 have returned but the others are missing"

"So our desert foe strikes again. Snively I want you to send out a battalion of twenty hovercrafts armed to their maximum."

"but sir, the sandstorms are too strong for us to send anything in. the hovercraft that carried SwatBot units 1XXA9 and 1XXB1 did come back but it had severe damage from the sand storm, it may not have made it back at all if the SwatBots left later then they did."

"Very well, prepare to start our assault as soon as the sandstorms halt"

"As you wish sir," said Snively as he then began to monitor the area with one of Robotnik's weather satellites...

A half hour had passed, Cream was doing okay for the most part but most of her friends were keeping close to her, especially Knuckles though he seemed happy to see Cream being her old self again.

Sonic and Sally were in another part of the town looking out at the desert outside from a shielded window. A sandstorm had started outside as the two observed the activity outside.

"So another sandstorm has come about, that should keep Robotnik away from here for a bit." Said Amy

"I guess this is why Robotnik doesn't come around here that often," said Sally

Amy came next to her and said, "It's more than what you think, Robotnik is quite relentless here."

"I guess even a desert can't keep Robuttnik from making people miserable" said Sonic

Amy nodded and said "yes, but I have noticed that Robotnik's patrols have increased. I think he is going to invade here once more, and this time we may not hold out. Our force is too small to keep them out."

"Is there any way to keep them out?" asked Sally

"I am not sure," started Amy "there was a cannon here but it no longer functions, it requires two people to operate but so far we have been unable to make it work."

"Maybe Nicole and I can help," said Sally as she pulled out the small computer from her pocket "if I can take a look at the cannon I am sure Nicole and I can make it work."

"Alright, but we must hurry the sandstorms won't last forever" said Amy

Sally nodded as they made their way to the site of the cannon.

The cannon was massive, about the size of a large observatory telescope. It looked old and battered but relatively good condition.

"Man would you look at that thing, I thought only Robotnik had those kind of weapons" said Sonic

"This cannon was originally intended for the Great War, its construction was overseen by my father and Lord Claw"

"What happened to Lord Claw by the way?" asked Sally

"Roboticized, he was once one of the greatest warriors of the Great War and now he is reduced to a mere robotic slave in Robotnik's miserable mines or factories."

"That is a real shame," replied Sally

"It doesn't matter who it is that gets in Robotnik's way" said Sonic "rather it be a warrior or an innocent child Robotnik doesn't care who he makes into a robot."

Amy nodded "Yes, anyhow this cannon is in need of repair. If you can Sally, please fix it"

"I will do my best Amy," said Sally

"That is all I ask," replied Amy

"Well how about I go look at this place while you fix this thing alright?" said Sonic

"Go ahead" said Sally

"I will give you the grand tour," said Amy as she walked ahead of him

"Sounds like a plan" said Sonic as she led him onward.

She took him about, there was not a lot to look at but they had some areas of interest.

Amy took Sonic to her "home" a large pipe decorated by a large rose crest

"This is my place," she said as she lead him in

It was cramped and only had enough room for at least two people at a time. The walls of the pipe were covered by a mix of both girlish and militaristic objects.

"I walk a fine line between my feminism and my military upbringing," she said as she sat on her small bed in the back of the pipe "it's a nice place to rest despite its looks, and boy do I need to rest up after all the stuff I did today"

"Well how about you take your rest while I take more of a look around this place for myself?"

"Sure, just make sure that Knuckles isn't too uptight okay?"

Sonic nodded as he then walked off to explore some more.

"And how does that weather report look now Snively?" asked Robotnik impatiently as Snively monitored the weather satellites

"Sir the sandstorm is still going, by my estimate it should be done within an hour. I have set up the system to detect if the weather is suitable for our hovercrafts."

"Snively I am loosing patience, that threat must be found otherwise I cannot complete my mission there."

"And what is that mission sir?"

"I have heard that the Mallikad guard is still alive and well, thanks to some interrogation on Workerbot 13891 formally Lord Claw I have found that maybe the lost heir to the Rose crest is still alive.

That foolish King Acorn thought he could hide them from me but as usual, he is wrong...

You see Snively I have worked out new methods to grab the memories of the Workerbots, but it is limited. But if my information is correct they are still around and they hold a key to my ultimate plan"

"I see my lord, but rather if they are alive or not won't matter if our hovercrafts can't navigate in this horrific weather."

"I know Snively. But my patience is getting very thin"

"Yes sir" said Snively as he then gave a loud sigh

"Soon one day you are going to be very sorry you pompous jerk," he said under his breath

"What was that Snively?"

"I said I am going to do a lot of work," said Snively again nearly slipping in front of his leader.

Another hour passed and Sally finished hooking up Nicole to the cannon's main computer and

Nicole looked over the data from it.

A few seconds had passed as Nicole said, "scan complete Sally"

The data from the cannon came up on Nicole's screen, as Sally looked it over Amy and Sonic came back to the cannon room and Amy said "so how does it go?"

"Well it looks like there a glitch in the power system. I think I can tell you how to fix it."

"Alright, Rouge I want you to do the repairs"

Rouge came over and said, "Alright what do I have to do to fix it?"

Sally pointed at a panel above them and said, "The problem is in this section, there is a corroded wire in there that needs to be replaced. After we repair it, the power generator needs thirty-five minutes to power the cannon up and then two operators must press the fire buttons at the same time, but this thing could blow. I never seen anything like this configuration so I am very unsure of what will happen"

"Then whoever is in this thing may die then" said Amy

"Possibly" said Sally

"Well I guess we can't ignore the risks but I know it has to be done. Rouge get to the repairs and get this thing ready as soon as possible"

"Right" said Rouge as she flew up to make the necessary repairs

Amy walked over to a window nearby and said, "The Sandstorm is going to let up soon, about three minutes or so. But I know that Robotnik will be here in under a half hour so I think we may have to run a diversion"

"Don't worry, I will handle that part" said Sonic

"Then its settled" started Amy "lets get ready. Sonic I will come along side of you when you run your diversion."

"But you would be left behind" said Sonic

"No need to worry. It's just that it's my duty to protect this place and I will do it till the day I die"

Sonic gave a nod "I can respect that"

"Then lets prepare," said Amy as the sandstorm outside began to quiet.

Act III: The Battle

At his station Snively looked at his weather monitor, he was getting very nervous, as it seemed the storm would never let up.

"Come on you, work for me already," he thought, "I don't want to look out the opposite end of the roboticizer!"

He looked on impatiently, it seemed that time was just freezing up on purpose just to make him angry.

Then finally a beep began to sound, relieved Snively looked at the signal from the weather satellite and said "Sir the sandstorms have let up."

"Good, prepare the attack force Snively," said Robotnik

"Yes Sir" Snively replied as he turned on the communications network.

"Attention all SwatBots, units 1XXJB3 through 1XXJD9 go to your hovercrafts and head out to the east desert. All SwatBot factory Workerbots work triple your workload, same with hovercraft factory Workerbots. All mine Workerbots prepare to mine for more metals, all other priorities are to be ignored."

Robotropolis then began to work overtime, in the factories all the Workerbots sped up as ordered as they rushed about putting new SwatBot's together.

Two of these Workerbots was Lord Claw and Sir Charles hedgehog.

They raced along one another as deep inside their tortured metal bodies they knew something big was going to happen, but they just obeyed as their programming rushed them forward.

Soon a force of twenty hovercrafts sprang loose and headed out for the desert.

Amy Rose looked troubled as she stood in place, Sonic grew curious and then asked

"What's wrong Amy?"

"Do you hear that?" asked Amy

"Hear what?" asked Sonic in return

"That's the point, the sandstorms have stopped." she replied

"That means ol buttnik is going to come," said Sonic

"Yes, and I am expecting a very large force of his robots to come here" Amy replied

"That's not good, if Robotnik attacks again he could easily uncover this place" came Sally

"Well I am ready to kick some robo butt, how about you Amy?"

"I am ready to fight too. I can't loose this place, not now, not ever. I want to return Mallikad to its former glory, to take down Robotnik and make him pay"

"Sounds like my kind of gal" said Sonic

"I'm flattered but now is not the time, everyone get that cannon fixed Sonic and I are going to head out"

"But Amy don't you want me along too, I really don't trust this blue hedgehog" said Knuckles

"No, he and I will go out there alone. I cannot risk anyone getting in the way, I know of Sonics abilities and I trust him. You should trust him too" said Amy

"Very well, but protect her alright blue boy?"

"No problem man" said Sonic

"Alright lets move Sonic," said Amy as she lead the way, the pair then reached the main door and then to the outer tunnel.

"So what is his problem anyhow?" asked Sonic

"He loves me," said Amy "he and I are sort of an item; I bet it's the same with you and Sally."

"Sort of" said Sonic

"I see, well I can see why. You are both incredibly stubborn."

"But look at you, you are stubborn as well" replied Sonic

"I know" started Amy "but it is a virtue, a warrior must fight no matter what."

"You are quite admirable," said Sonic

"Thank you" said Amy as the two then came up to the outside door, it opened and the pair came outside.

"You know I am kind of jealous of Sally," said Amy "I could really use you"

"Well I have a home with her, and I have a lot of friends back at Knothole," replied Sonic

"I understand," said Amy as the pair began to wait for the action to begin.

Soon the time of battle had come, by now Sonic and Amy were outside dressed in desert attire; they looked on in search of Robotnik's force as the wind swept at them.

Amy came close to Sonic and said, "Well I bet you are just itching for action."

"Yeh, I am really hyped up for this," said Sonic

"You know what is funny though, in another lifetime I think I could have been someone who would follow you around like some love crazed leach."

"You serious?" asked Sonic

"Well yeh sorta, I feel I have a connection of some kind to you even though we have just met."

"Its kinda weird but I feel the same way," said Sonic

"Well enough of this idol chitchat, we have work to do. Look over there!" said Amy as she pointed to the distance.

Sonic looked over and saw the large battalion of hovercrafts

"Woa that is quite a force" said Sonic

The hovercraft's came in closer as Amy pulled out her comm. link and said, "Rouge how is the cannon doing?"

"Almost ready, the charge is up to 89 and it will be ready to fire in at least three minutes from now."

"I got you," said Amy as she turned off her comm. and said, "Let's get ready for em"

"Here I got a better way to do that," said Sonic, he rolled his hand into a fist and said

"Make your hand like mine and pull it up to your elbow and say lets do it to it and we touch fists together twice"

Amy nodded and did as Sonic said, and then together they cried, "Let's do it to it" as the two nodded and made their way out to make their diversion.

Sonic ran ahead as Amy followed, she pulled out her staff and leapt into the battleground.

The hovercrafts began to fire at the pair as Sonic and Amy dodged and darted in front of them.

"I only hope the cannon will be ready soon," thought Amy as she began to dart back and fourth on the sand dune along side of Sonic

Rouge and Knuckles were ready to climb into the control center of the cannon, the two prepared themselves but soon the two were knocked out from behind.

Big the cat and Cream then came in ahead of them and made their way to the cannons control room...

Outside of Mallikad, Amy and Sonic were getting tired; even for Sonic, this battle worked its toll on him.

Sweat poured down their bodies, the desert heat scorching their fur and flesh. The brutal desert had it's way with them as fatigue made its way through them.

"We can't do this forever," said Amy "there is just too many to deal with!"

"How long till the cannon is ready?" asked Sonic

"At least a minute" said Amy as she dashed about

"No problem for me" said Sonic as he rushed in way ahead of Amy and began to dart like crazy, the hover units chased after him as the deadline of the cannon drew near

Amy took out her comm. unit and as she was just about to call in back home, a voice cried

"Amy, Cream and Big are in the cannon! Knuckles and I were just about ready to get ready to fire the cannon when they knocked us out!"

Then another buzz came in and Big's voice rang in "I am sorry Amy, but Cream and I have decided to take the risk of firing the cannon."

Cream's came in next as she said, "Don't be mad Miss Amy, but Big has no memory of who he is and I can go back to being Robotniks slave at any minute. We want to do this for you Amy, please let us do this."

"Alright" started Amy "but please come out of this alive"

"We will try to," said Big

Amy then turned off her comm. link and then started to distract the hovercrafts once more.

Inside the cannons control room Cream and Big sat in the control chairs as Big said "the cannon is ready, 100 power. We shall press the activation button on the count of three okay?"

"Okay" said Cream

Big began to count down "One, two... Three!"

The two pressed the fire buttons and the cannon began to fire a massive beam of energy at the hovercrafts and it dissolved them all as it struck.

"They did it!" cried Sonic as he covered his head

Amy's comm. link began to buzz as she picked it up and Big's voice came on it.

"Miss Amy, did we get them?"

"Yes you did, good shot Big!"

"Yes but we have some bad news, this thing is going to blow and we can't get out of the hatch of the control room" said Big

"No!" cried Amy as she looked at some flashing coming from where the cannon was

"Don't worry, we were ready for this" said Cream "but we are happy to go this way"

"No, you two can't leave me like this!"

"Don't worry Amy" started Big "at least now I remember my real name, it's..."

But before Big could give out his name, the cannon exploded as Amy began to cry a loud "NOOOOOOOO!"

Amy and Sonic quickly dashed back into the complex and Amy climbed up to where the cannon was but Rouge and Knuckles blocked their way.

"Let me back there!" cried Amy

"No, it's too late. The place is totaled," said Knuckles

Amy bent down and cried; as she knew what Knuckles said was true.

A short time passed and Sonic and Sally were ready to head back to Knothole, Sally turned to Amy and said, "So what will you do now?"

"I don't know; the death of Big and Cream was very bad for us. I think I am going to move to another place with Rouge and Knuckles. I am sure we can find somewhere to go"

"Then come with us to Knothole" said Sally

"No thanks, we are a wild bunch and we mostly live by our own rules." Said Knuckles

"Very well then" started Sally; she turned to Sonic and said, "Let's go home"

Sonic nodded and the two walked back to their captured hovercraft and left the area.

"So do you think we will see her again?" asked Sonic

"I hope so," said Sally "she is too valuable to loose"

"I really liked her" said Sonic "we had so much in common."

"Well if you fall in love with her don't worry I won't get mad at you" said Sally

"No, I don't think we will get very far. Besides I have you to occupy me," replied Sonic

"I am glad I can satisfy you," said Sally

"So what do we do with this hovercraft anyhow?"

"We will use it for something I guess," said Sally "let's go home"

Sonic nodded as the hovercraft headed off

Below the hovercraft, Amy and her friends walked into the desert and into destiny, and as Amy looked on at the departing heroes, she smiled.

"See you around pal," she said, she then put her hood back on and the desert rose was ready to sprout once more.

End of part one


	2. The Wilted Rose

The Desert Rose Trilogy, by Tara Ikeda (Ladymecha)

Part Two: The Wilted Rose

Prologue:

On the dark streets of Robotropolis, someone was going to strike at the heart of Robotnik's evil empire.

A figure began to dart and dash across its streets, with great purpose it made its way to one of Robotnik's SwatBot factories.

The figure halted, it looked down and saw the hundreds of poor people who Robotnik worked endlessly for him. It waited and soon the lot of Workerbots made their way into the factory with several SwatBots right behind them.

The figure made its way down and then into a duct to the side of the factory, it crawled up the pipes and soon made it's way into the factory. It dashed about as it prepared to make its strike, here it would put a halt to SwatBot production and give relief to the poor Workerbots who toiled away here.

It sat and waited for a little while, then it attacked.

It leaped out of hiding and began to attack any SwatBot nearby, then it began smashing apart a large generator.

It broke the control panel of the generator, alarms then went off as a few more SwatBot's came into view, the figure then waited and then came at them and smashed them apart as well.

One after another, they fell but soon some Workerbots made their way into the area.

One of these Workerbots was a roboticized tiger, formally known as Lord Claw.

He looked about but then began to perform repairs, behind him came Sir Charles Hedgehog who then began to effect repairs as well.

The figure hid and paid close attention to the tiger "Lord Claw" it said as it then began to head back outside silently

Now was not the time to free him, no it needed allies if it was going to be successful in its mission.

Soon the figure made its way outside, a few hoverpatrols flew by but it was no matter as the figure hid itself behind some cover.

As they went about their way, the figure then unhooded itself as the face of Amy Rose Hedgehog looked up into the sky.

Amy looked around and saw there was nothing following her, she then sat down and Amy then shed a sad tear for Lord Claw... her mentor and the person who she considered a father.

But she picked herself up again as at least she knew where he was now, and now the desert rose was ready to sprout into battles once more.

Act I: Reunions

Princess Sally Acorn was taking some well deserved rest, she was sitting back with her boots off and she wiggled her furry brown toes as she stretched herself out.

She knew she could not rest for very long, but at least for the moment she took some time for herself.

Just then, Nicole began to beep; Sally reached over as she grabbed Nicole who was sitting on the table next to her.

"Nicole report" she said

"Sally Sir Charles is relaying us some data about some attacks in Robotropolis"

"Oh?" asked Sally as Nicole started to beep and flash as Nicole began to download data.

Soon the data was finished downloading and Sally combed through its data.

"Heavy loss of forces in the SwatBot factories, unknown enemy at work. Freedom fighter activity suspected however it is unconfirmed."

"Whoa, de je vu" said Sally "Nicole is there any more data?"

"Negative Sally"

"So it's happening again," said Sally "Robotniks forces are being hurt by something other then us"

She then put her boots on and then walked off to find Sonic, if this meant what she thought it did she knew she would need his aid in finding out who was doing this.

It was not long until Sally heard a loud ruckus, normally Sally would take it as something that she heard during one of their raids on Robotropolis but she knew exactly who was making all that noise.

Sonic was on top of an old tree stump strumming away at his guitar making all sorts of noise and not really music, at least any form of music that Sally recognized.

Sonic was jumping all over the place as he began to sing one of his infamous little diddies.

"Yeh I am rockin today and I am way past cool, and ya know Robotnik is a great big fool.

I am the coolest thing around, yeh the coolest thing to hit your town.

So get ready this hog is hot, because this hog is ready to rock!"

he then jumped up and hit one loud chord as Sally shouted "Sonic!" as he then stopped his guitar playing and turned to her

"Hey Sal, like my licks!" he said

"Yeh whatever, listen Sonic there is something happening in Robotropolis, I think we should investigate it as it's similar to what happened about four months ago."

"You mean?"

"Yes, it might be Amy. This means she is in the area if its true, Sonic if she is around I think we should check if she is okay."

"I got yah Sal, don't worry this hog is ready to cook! I won't let anything happen to her, don't you worry."

"Well first do you have a power ring?"

"Of course I do, I went to the ring pool before I started jammin!" he said

"Very well" said Sally

Once more, the two did their handshake and cried out "Let's do it, to it" and soon made their way to Robotropolis.

Under the streets of Robotropolis Workerbots marched back and fourth before Amy Roses eyes.

She waited for the one she wanted, one way or another she was going to take Lord Claw out of here and liberate him.

She hoped to capture and take him back to her new hideout, if she could capture him and try to free him like what she did with Cream before she died.

She just looked onward and pitied all of those who marched before her, but she knew she had to come up with a plan to get him out of here, as currently she had none.

She knew her new allies would be here soon, a trio of Mobian birds and a Mobian cat that reminded her so much of the late Big. They were new enlistments into her order, she found them near their new hideout and they now were one force gathered together to make a new strike against Robotnik.

She knew she had to get in contact with Sally as well, and deeply she wanted to see him again.

Ever since they met in the desert Amy could only think of Sonic, her strange attraction to him often haunted her and it also made her do crazy missions like this one.

After a while, she finally spotted Lord Claw; she weaved a bit as she prepared to capture him. She did not want to risk anyone else on this mission; Amy was willing to do anything to free her comrade now that she did not care what would happen. She saw him head to a large door followed closely by a metal hedgehog she swore looked a bit like Sonic. But she was much more focused on her comrade, she came up to him and said "Lord Claw, come here and catch me!"

"Priority one, detain freedom fighters!" he said as he began to chase after her, Amy then dashed ahead of him as she lead him on. She made sure to avoid any other robots except him, of course, this was easier said then done as now practically every robot was on her tail and alarms began to blare.

"Oh drat," cried Amy as she ran faster, she dashed about as she started to reach the outer rim of the city.

But there were too many robots around, she ran into a garbage yard for safety. She huffed as behind her a figure came, it then clamped its metal hands around her, as Amy knew she was in the hands of a Workerbot...

On the outskirts of Robotropolis Sonic and Sally were on their way into the foul city, soon the sound of alarms began to ring in their ears.

Sonic stopped and Sally got off, the two looked around as lights and sirens were all over the place in the city.

"Looks like Robotown is having a party" said Sonic

"We got to see if Amy is still here," replied Sally "hopefully she is not roboticized"

"Nah, that girls too strong for ol buttnik" said Sonic

"I hope your right," said Sally

But soon the pair heard a noise from above; they turned about and saw three Mobian birds hovering above them on small surfboard like hovercrafts.

"Hello down there" said the green male hawk "are you the knothole freedom fighters?"

"Yes we are, but you guys should not be hovering like that, Robotnik will see you!"

"Don't worry, we will be fine" said the hawk once more "the name is Jet, and this is Wave and Storm, we are the Babylon Rogues. We are allies of the Desert Rose; we have come to see if she is okay"

"So are we" Said Sally "how about we look together we can cover more ground that way"

"Very well, we assume Amy is very near here. She is smart enough to find her way in any place."

"We know," said Sonic "but be careful up there okay?"

"Will do," said Jet as the three moved off

"Now that was a bit weird," said Sonic

"Hopefully they are trustworthy," replied Sally as the pair began their search for Amy.

In Robotnik's command tower Robotnik seemed unusually pleased, this worried Snively to no end as when Robotnik was this happy it was usually not a good thing.

Snively cautiously approached his rotund Uncle

"Sir is something the matter?"

"Oh no Snively, everything is fine. I have news that the Desert Rose is paying us a visit as we speak."

"You mean the one that gave us so much trouble in the East desert?"

"Yes"  
"then why is it good news?" asked Snively

"Simple, I have someone on the inside of her little band. An ally who could help us capture that troublesome rodent and her friends and Sonic as well."

"So you got yourself a new friend then"  
"yes and this one is not blinded by foolish ideology. This one craves power and I will utilize that craving for my own needs"

"Very good sir" said Snively as Robotnik then got into his chair.

Amy Rose looked about with worry, she could not believe it; she was now in the captivity of a Workerbot who had just escorted her inside a small room hidden in a trash heap.

She did not understand it; why was this Workerbot holding her like this?

He was the same robot hedgehog she spotted earlier, he was moving about as if he was looking for something.

She was sure it was a communications device to help him get in contact with Robotnik, but if he was under Robotnik's control why didn't he deliver her to the other robots outside?  
It did not make sense and her worry rose as the Workerbot then picked something up and then poured something or another into it and then came over to her with a metal cup filled with tea.

"Have a drink and relax, I won't harm you" he said

Amy just sat bewildered, she blinked and then said "Wait a minute; I thought all Workerbots were all slaves to Robotnik"

"Well I was, until now. My name is Sir Charles Hedgehog, pleased to meet you."

"Did you say Sir Charles hedgehog?"

Sir Charles nodded "yes, you can call me Uncle Chuck if you want"

"But I know you, weren't you the one who was the head of the kingdom's science division?"

"Yes, I was one of the first to be roboticized, kind of ironic considering who built it in the first place."

"Huh?" Amy asked in puzzlement

"Oh it's nothing, drink up. Its some old tea I have here but it is still good."

"This doesn't have any poisons or anything?"

Sir Charles laughed and said, "No, go ahead and have a drink. It will be alright."

Amy took a sip; the tea was indeed very good as she drank it.

"This is pretty good, thank you," said Amy

"You are welcome, so what brings you here?"

"Its a long story" said Amy, she was about to give Sir Charles an answer as a knock came at the "door" of Sir Charles' hideout

Sir Charles came up and pressed a button, then Amy caught sight of who had just entered.

"Sonic, Sally!" she cried as she came up to them dropping her cup

"Amy!" the pair cried back as the three gathered and hugged

"So you know my nephew and Princess Sally then," said Sir Charles

"So its you who found her Uncle Chuck" said Sonic looking across the room at his uncle

"You bet, I found this one outside in the open. I guess you all met before."

Sonic gave a nod "when you were still under buttniks control, four months back"

"Ah, so she must have been the reason why Robotnik was so testy at that time," said Sir Charles

"Sorry about all that" said Amy

"It's aright; I probably had some extra work to do thanks to Sonic too. But then again I wasn't in control of myself back then; I did a lot of work I didn't like under Robotnik. I could only watch as my body just obeyed Robotniks commands."

Sonic gave a nod "you see when you are boticized you loose control of yourself, Uncle Chuck said that he could dream when he was under Robotniks control. He was still himself under all that robo junk but he did not have any control over the wheel"

"So that's how you got Cream free then," said Amy

"Yep" Said Sonic "but back then we still didn't know how to keep someone free, only a bit. We tried that trick on Uncle Chuck a few times, only now he is free for good."

"That's good to hear," said Amy "glad you are free"

"Same here" said Sir Charles

"So what brings you to Robotropolis anyway?" asked Sally

"Lord Claw, I have to get him out of here. I need him, our new alliance needs him." replied Amy

"You mean you and those three birds on those funky hovercrafts," said Sonic

"So you met them, yeh those Babylon Rogues are allies to us. We have another new ally out there by the name of Blaze, she is not a Babylon Rogue but she was working with them when we first met her."

"I see" said Sally "but Amy you could have got hurt or worse out here though"

"I know, but the deaths of Cream and Big are heavy on my mind. I can't stop thinking about it, I want to avenge them. And there is you Sonic; I just could not get you out of my head this whole time"

"Thanks" said Sonic with a blush

"Well Amy perhaps we should take you back to your friends" started Sally "they are looking for you"

Amy nodded and said, "Thanks for the tea Sir Charles"

"You're welcome," replied Chuck

Amy and the others then left Chucks hideout and began to head out to Amy's allies.

Act II: The Traitor

Outside the Babylon Rogues were still on their patrol, Jet was worried, as he had no word from his comrade.

"Your worried aren't you?" asked Wave

"Well can you blame me? They could all be roboticized by now for all we know"

"It's not like you to be like this though" said Wave "anything the matter?"

"Its Knuckles, that guy is a ticking timebomb."

"I know" started Wave "wait a minute look down there!"

Below they spotted Sonic and Sally with Amy coming right along side of them.

The Babylon Rouges slowly came down to them and Jet cried "Miss Amy you are alright!"

Amy looked up at him and said, "Yes I am, thank you."

"We are going to take her back to you now, we might just escort her back" said Sally

"Might be a good idea, we are going to have to go back on foot now because we drew a lot of attention out here." said Wave

Amy nodded "lets all head back to our rendezvous point then."

The three Babylon Rouges then landed and the team started to dash about the dangerous streets of Robotropolis, the trip to Amy's rendezvous point was slow but anything now could draw attention to them now.

They soon got to the other side of the city and towards the east desert area, but they made their way northward with Amy leading the way.

"Our meeting place is ahead," she said as they followed after her

They then began to see an old building; it was a wreck on the outside but just the place to have a hideout at.

They then saw a few hooded figures waiting for them; they approached the building as the voice of Knuckles came

"So you brought us these two again," he said

"They helped me again Knuckles," said Amy "anyhow let's get in"

Amy came on ahead and punched in a code, the door of the old building opened and they all walked in.

The door shut behind them as they came to a large elevator

"This will lead us to New Mallikad," said Amy

"You mean your old hideout?" asked Sally

"Actually it's our new hideout that we call New Mallikad" said Amy

"Though technically it should be called New, New Mallikad," said Storm

Sonic laughed, "So the big guy has a sense of humor"

"Why do you think he remains quiet?" said Wave with a snicker "he is a sneaky one"

Amy had a laugh too and said, "Down we go"

She pressed a button and the elevator went down.

They reached the bottom of the shaft and headed down a large tunnel, they then saw some light and they found themselves in a large domed area.

"Here it is New Mallikad," said Amy "this place is where we ended up after we left our old home. This is actually an old temple of some kind, it is underground for some reason we don't know."

"I think I know what this place is; it's the second hiding spot my father had planned out. This place is actually a war shelter left over from the Great War, though I can see why you mistook it for a temple." said Sally

Indeed, the walls of New Mallikad were decorated by runes, statues and marble.

"Well I think this place is a temple anyhow," said Amy "some of us made it one."

"One things for sure, this place is much nicer then the other one" said Sonic

"Yes, well anyway we are still building here." started Amy "but there is one thing that I like to show you right off."

She walked on ahead and they followed her to a large stone statue, a statue of Cream and Big.

"This is our memorial to our lost comrades" she said, "We honor their memory right here"

"It's a nice statue," said Sally "I am sure they would have appreciated it"

Amy nodded "anyhow now we are here I have something to ask you two"

"Okay, what is it?" asked Sally

"How did you get Sir Charles free?"

Sonic came forward "well it wasn't easy, Uncle Chuck was in the palm of Robotniks hand. What we did for Cream was not much different then what we did for him, it was hard though as Buttnik had him for a while."

"I see, but is it possible to do the same for Lord Claw?"

"I guess so," said Sonic

"Well we are going to try, like I said I need him, especially for something that we have just come across."

"What is that?" asked Sally

"We found other cannon, this one is much bigger then the one we had before. With it we can deal a blow right in the heart of Robotropolis, taking out power units that sort of thing."

"I see," said Sally "where is this cannon?"

"In another tunnel, I know where it is. But we can't operate it, as only Lord Claw knows its combination; he built this one to be a weapon of last resort. He made sure that it could fire anywhere he wanted to, and you can be sure if Mallikad was an enemy of King Acorn we could have taken it out easily. But you see I think Lord Claw foresaw Robotniks invasion thus why it was pointed at the city."

"Well he was a master strategist," said Sally

Amy nodded "yes, well anyhow lets all rest for now. We are going to go back out there and try again."

"But this time you won't be going without me" said Knuckles

"I knew you were going to say that Knux" replied Amy "alright, we all go this time"

"But you know it is going to be very hard to do this mission though" said a voice, then from behind them came a female cat who looked at them with a sly look.

"Ahh yes, Blaze. I knew you would come in eventually," said Amy "these are our allies Sonic and Sally"

The pair gave a nod as Blaze gave them a smile; Rouge came by as well and said, "Well look what the cat drug in... no offense Blaze"

"None taken," said Blaze "If you excuse me I have something I need to do" she then walked off and out of the sight of the others.

"The new girl is kind of strange you know," said Rouge

"Why do you think I keep a close eye on her?" said Knuckles

Rouge laughed and said, "It is very nice to see you two again though"

Sonic and Sally nodded and soon they were all talking about the adventures they had since the last time they met.

In Robotropolis a communications beacon lit, Snively came up to it and switched on his Comm. Unit.

"Is it some new information we have from our spy?" asked Robotnik

Information lit on his screen as Snively then smiled, he then walked up to Robotnik and said, "Yes sir it is"

Robotnik turned around and said "and what does our spy have to say?"

"The spy says that Sonic and Sally have joined forces with the desert rose, according to our spy she has been here many times in search of Workerbot 13891."

"Lord Claw" said Robotnik

"Yes sir, but it's strange that she looks for him at this particular time. He has no real value other then his time in the army"

"Perhaps she is looking for military advice then," said Robotnik

"Yes, it is possible that the freedom fighters have methods of liberating the Workerbots from your control. But I do not know how at this point."

"Keep me informed Snively," said Robotnik

"Yes sir" said Snively as he made his way back to the station.

The group of freedom fighters had finished talking and took a nice long rest before heading out to Robotropolis once more.

Now within the city Knuckles and Amy were chatting with eachother silently as they moved forward

Amy was annoyed with Knuckles; ever since they headed out, he has been talking about his mistrust of Sonic and the rest of their allies.

"Knuckles I don't know why you are so paranoid, Sonic Sally and the others are our friends"

"I know, but I feel someone in our ranks is giving information out to Robotnik. There is something wrong here Amy and I am going to find out what it is."

"But you can't just go about accusing people of being spies, we need allies especially now."

"I know, but you know what? If I ever found the guy who invented that roboticizer I would kill him."

"I agree," said Amy as they walked along

Ahead Sonic and Sally were talking to eachother as well, not hearing what Knuckles and Amy were saying.

"It's really nice seeing her again," said Sonic

"Who Amy?" asked Sally

"Yeh, you know I think she really doesn't belong on this world. She should be somewhere where she's happy and not needing to worry about being thrown into a roboticizer"

"Well we all think like that" said Sally "but I guess you are right, Amy was far more gentile before now. She used to be kind of naive and quite active as a kid, I remember what she was like when she was little, she was almost like you."

"I guess it's a hedgehog thing," said Sonic

"well I did say the last time if you were interested in her I would not mind, after all after Robotniks finished I will have to become ruler."

"Well we could elect someone though," said Sonic

"Yeh I would like a democracy, my father was a good king and was very democratic but maybe a true democracy would be better after all this is over... but the people would want someone to lead them and it might be up to me to guide them" said Sally

"I think I am going to go back there and talk to her for a bit" started Sonic "but I hope I can get past that uptight echidna"

Sally laughed "go ahead, go talk to her I don't mind"

Sonic took a nod and then turned around to talk to Amy, she and Knuckles were chatting about when he came forward.

"Heya Amy" he said

"Hello Sonic" said Amy "what do you want?"

"To talk to you for a bit," he replied

"You can do that later," said Knuckles

"Shush" came Amy "so Sonic what do you want to talk about?"

"Oh stuff you know, the usual" he said shyly

"Ahh so the great Sonic the hedgehog has a weakness then" said Knuckles

"Come on Knuckles, give it a rest" spat Amy

"Thanks Amy" said Sonic a bit irritated "anyhow, I kind of missed you over these last few months"

"I missed you too actually" she replied

"Well I am glad we missed eachother then"

"Sounds like it"

The two began walking side by side, as Knuckles sped up a bit in anger eventually walking along side Sally.

"Rotten blue jerk" he spat

Sally had a laugh as they soon reached the outer rim of Robotropolis.

In the lower city, the assembled freedom fighters moved from street to street avoiding any patrols that came their way.

"We will reach the main Workerbot area very soon, it's where they go for the daily tally" said

Sally

"Its how buttnik keeps track of all his slaves" came Sonic "my Uncle Chuck told me about it"

"Who is Uncle Chuck?" asked Knuckles

"A ray of hope" started Amy "he is a freed Workerbot"

"Yeh, my Uncle is mondo cool," said Sonic

The two moved along some more to where they saw a lot of Workerbots gathering around.

"This is it," said Sally "but we better not do anything here as there are too many of them"

"We can at least watch for our target though," said Amy "let's see if we can find Lord Claw in this mess"

They looked about and then saw a roboticized tiger standing by in the corner

"There he is" said Amy pointing over at him

"We just watch for now, but everyone be on the lookout" said Sally

Amy gave a nod and they watched as Lord Claw moved about in the long line.

A few minutes passed and soon the Workerbots were on their way, and the team followed Lord Claw to the mine area.

"We have to divert him somehow," said Amy

"I will do that," said Sonic

"Sonic be careful" came Sally

Sonic took a nod then sped off, he then came in front of Lord Claw and said "hey big guy over here, catch me if you can!"

"Priority one, detain freedom fighters by order of Robotnik" said Lord Claw as he pursued Sonic back to where the others were, they all gathered and held him back as Sonic pulled a power ring from his backpack.

He then put it in Lord Claw's hands as Amy came up to him

"Lord Claw please come back to me, I need you!" she cried "please fight it; I know you are still in there!"

Lord Claws robotic eyes then lit up as he began to push through his programming

"Ooh, ow... Amy is that you?" he asked

"Yes it's me, how do you feel?" she replied

"Much better, but we have to get out of here before the other robots come."

Amy gave a nod and they all ran to a small shack nearby to hide, they opened the door and hoped there was no robots waiting for them.

It seemed safe as they all rested

"You must have done some good operation here," said Lord Claw

"Yes we did," said Amy

"Listen though; we are not in the clear. Lord Claw if you feel yourself loosing your will you have to fight for it."

"Don't worry, I don't intend on letting Robotnik take control over me again" he said

"Good" said Amy "well we should start heading out of the city and soon, Robotnik patrols are pretty heavy these days."

Sally gave a nod as they all prepared to escape the city.

Act III: Roboticized

Snively's comm. Link began to beep once more; he smiled, as he knew what this meant.

He turned to Robotnik and said "sir our spy is active again, the report is that the desert rose, Sonic and the princess are in the city"

"Excellent, then the trap is set. I bet by now they might have Lord Claw with them and as we speak he has his free will back."

"That is a good guess sir, but how do we get him back under our control?"

"We use the programming signal as usual Snively, it is how we control the Workerbots for their daily duties so why not intensify that signal?"

"Good idea sir" said Snively as he turned a dial, soon the programming signal began to increase and would soon become a serious threat to Sonic and his allies.

In their hideout Lord Claw began to hold his head, Amy turned her attention to him and said, "Are you okay?"

"I got a big headache, it is really intense," he said

"Uh oh" said Sonic "that is way too familiar"

"What's wrong?" asked Amy

"He is loosing his will, but it is much too soon" said Sally

"Get out of here everyone, I am slipping fast!" cried Lord Claw as he stooped over

"This is bad, real bad" said Sonic

"Alright, let's get out... Looks like we won't be taking Lord Claw home today" said Sally

Lord Claw's robotic eyes lit up as he cried "priority one, capture freedom fighters!"

He then began to charge after them as they prepared to escape.

In his hideout, Sir Charles held his head; the signal was getting to him.

"No, not again... Not again!" he cried, "you wont have me Robotnik, not again I swear!"

He struggled against the signal as his will almost slipped from him.

"I won't have you in my head again Robotnik, I will fight you!" he cried once more

He then grabbed onto a large rod and opened the front door

"Not again!" he spat as he then began to dash outside.

The group all backed up as Lord Claw came after them, Sally ran for the door but Lord Claw blocked her off

"You got to be kidding me," she said as he darted at everyone who tried to approach the door

"I will distract him again, a hedgehog's work is never done you know" said Sonic as he dashed about the small space, Amy shoved the door open and they were finally able to get out.

"Run!" she cried as they all dashed about, Sonic then stopped his diversion as he ran outside in the uncontrolled frenzy.

Sir Charles was having a very hard time keeping control of himself, but he knew he had to act.

He got to Robotniks main tower and to where he knew the main broadcast unit was.

Chuck knew he had to stop this, before this accursed thing got its hands on him again.

He saw the main unit, he then prepared to swing his rod and with a loud "CLANG!" it put an end to Robotniks signal.

Lord Claw then halted, the freedom fighters all turned to him as he stopped his pursuit.

Amy saw he was looking confused, as if in a daze

"Lord Claw do you hear me?" she asked

He just stood there, listless. In fact, most of the activity in the city ceased.

"What is going on here?" asked Sally

"Looks like he isn't getting any orders or something" said Knuckles

"That's because he isn't" came a voice.

The team all turned around to see Sir Charles standing there with a large metal rod

"Uncle Chuck?" asked Sonic as he came to them

"Yes, it's me Sonic. Robotnik almost got me again; he put his accursed communications tower on full blast."

"So it must be a part of how he controls you then" said Sally

"Yes, the signal is good for miles. But the system will be up again soon, you guys better get out of here before it starts up again."

"Where is this signal coming from anyhow?" asked Amy

"From Robotniks tower" said Sir Charles "but the SwatBots will probably have it back up eventually"

"I see," said Amy "well then I got myself a mission."

"Where are you going?" asked Sally

"To the main tower, I am going to knock that thing down for good," she said

"No you can't, its too dangerous!" cried Sally

"I have to try. Knuckles get out of here, I want to do this."

"Are you sure?" asked Knuckles

Amy nodded

"Wait" said Sonic as he came up to her

"Don't try to stop me Sonic" said Amy

"I won't, but please take care of yourself. I don't want you to get hurt"

"I know, but I want to make sure that thing stays down" she replied

"I understand," said Sonic, he gave her a kiss on the cheek and said "good luck"

Amy gave a nod as she then started to dart off

"Don't worry Sonic she will be fine" said Sir Charles

"I hope so," said Sonic as he watched her run off.

"Sir the signal is out, all the Workerbots are no longer functioning"

"That is very inconvenient Snively," said Robotnik "get the SwatBot's to work on it"

"Yes sir" he said as he turned on his comm. Unit

"All SwatBot's repair the Workerbot control signal unit" he said

He then gave a huff as he rubbed his head

Amy was now in Robotniks main tower; she darted and dashed making sure not to get caught

"It has to be around here somewhere," she said

She then spotted a few SwatBots marching to a room nearby as she hid behind a corner

"That must be it, time for the desert rose to make its strike!" she said, she then lunged forward as she then started to trash the SwatBots before her.

One by one, they went down as she spotted the main unit ahead

"There you are," she said as she spotted the smashed unit

She then prepared to smash it some more as more SwatBot's started to come

They then spotted her as they began to fire; one of them pressed the alarm system as Amy then gave out a loud sigh.

"Perfect, just perfect" she spat as she started to battle the SwatBot's off.

On the outskirts of the city Sonic began to worry, he turned to Robotniks main tower as he said, "I want to go back there"

"Are you serious?" asked Sally in surprise

"Come on Sal, I want to help her. She is much too valuable to let Buttnik get control of."

"Alright Sonic, but you come back here alright?"

Sonic gave a nod as he then began to dash back to the main tower.

"Come and get me!" cried Amy as she smashed some more of the SwatBots apart

She was becoming tired, but Amy wanted to fight them.

But there were too many SwatBots coming after her, she sliced at one of them but it grabbed Amy's rod from her.

As she tried to pull it away, another SwatBot came at her side and grabbed her.

Another one started to effect repairs to the control unit as Amy struggled

"Get off of me!" she cried as more SwatBots came in, some of them held her off as others made quick repair of the control unit.

They then started to take Amy away to the main elevator where Robotnik awaited for her above.

Sonic raced as fast as he could, he soon got to Robotniks tower and rushed in

There were many doors and SwatBots between him and Amy, so he decided to take the shaft.

He ran upward and though the air ducts and hoped he was not to late to save his comrade

"I am coming to save you Amy!" he cried

He rushed on more and more at incredible pace and he secretly crossed his fingers.

"I hope I get there, please feet don't fail me now," he thought

He dashed up the tubes and the pipes and quietly prayed for her safety.

The doors of the elevator opened as several SwatBot's held Amy in their arms

Robotnik came up to her and said "Ahh yes, the great desert rose I have heard so much about"

"Shut up" she spat, as he looked right at her

"So rude, but don't worry I can easily fix that problem."

He then turned to Snively and said, "How is that broadcast tower doing?"

"It is running again sir"

"Good" he replied he then gave Amy a devious smile as he said "SwatBot's throw her into the roboticizer!"

The SwatBots then carried her over to the roboticizer platform and shoved her down onto it; the glass of the machine came down with a "whir!" as Robotnik approached the main console.

Sonic was finally where he wanted to be, he crawled up the air duct and heard something began to charge up

"oh no" he said as he moved on faster, he soon came right above the Roboticizer room and peered down, a blinding light began to come from below and Sonic knew the roboticizer was on its run, he then jumped down, not caring what was below him as he wanted to break the machine at any cost.

An eerie glow surrounded Amy as she pressed her hands against the glass of the roboticizer, and soon with to her great horror she felt her body become stiff and rigid.

She looked down; an intense pain rushed in her feet and suddenly went numb as she watched her red boots become gray and metallic.

She saw her legs follow, then her waist, and her chest arms and fingers.

She began to feel a great agony as if her very soul was being pulled right out of her, but then the sight of Sonic the hedgehog came before her eyes as she was about finished.

He looked at her in agonizing sadness as he cried "NOOOO AMMMMMMMYYYYYYY!"

She could only look on at him with sadness and sorrow as she watched her arms become metallic and she soon felt her head was being ripped apart. Amy felt her will slip away as she watched Sonic look on at her in horror... her very soul soon became trapped behind a wall of circuits and metal as her mind began to fill with Robotnik's programming.

Her vision became red; her free will finally gave out as she now fell under Robotniks control.

One last bit of her former self gave Sonic a tear of sorrow and anguish as soon the dreaded machine opened and she found herself working for her hated enemy and for a warrior like her that is what hurt her the most.

Robotnik came into Sonics view as he said "Ahh just in time to see the desert rose wither and die"

The roboticizer opened as Amy marched out ready to capture Sonic for her new master.

"Priority one, detain freedom fighters" she said with a robotic but sad sounding voice

Sonic then grew furious, all his fury and hate bubbled up as he said, "you will pay for this Buttnik, I swear it... I will make you pay!"

He then dashed away back into the air ducts as Amy looked on

A few minutes passed and soon Sonic made his way back to his comrades with a very sad look on his face.

Knuckles then came near him both in anger and in curiosity and asked, "Where's Amy?"

"Roboticized," said Sonic as he looked back to the main tower with great fury as a tear ran down his cheek.

End of part two


	3. The Steel Rose

The Desert Rose Trilogy, by Tara Ikeda (Ladymecha)

Part Three: The Steel Rose

Prologue:

An elevator lowered into the deep reaches of Robotniks mines, this was where most of those first roboticized were sent.

In this elevator, a Workerbot fresh out of the roboticizer stood with a few other Workerbots and a few SwatBots on their way to the daily toil.

This was the first day that Workerbot 90133 would have as one of Robotnik's slaves, for the others this was just another day in a long list of nightmares but for this one it was probably going to be the first in the long line of humiliations to come.

The elevator finally came to a rest but for the Workerbots the day had just begun.

They all marched out in single file, with a SwatBot at each side.

Workerbot 90133 marched forward; it grabbed a pickax nearby and started to toil away for the first time.

Next to it was something familiar, a roboticized tiger who worked the same shift as it did.

A name came across Workerbot 90133's mind, a name that once commanded so much grace in the long forgotten past.

"Lord Claw"

Yes, that was the Workerbots name, but then another name came into its memory

"Desert Rose"

Yes, that was an important name there too, and the name that occupied it

"Amy Rose"

Yes, it was only a few minutes ago but for the Workerbot it was an eternity.

Another name came forward out of the muddled mist of the Workerbots mind

"Sonic the hedgehog"

But soon it was followed by another thought

"Priority one, capture freedom fighters by order of Robotnik"

This was not its thoughts!

No these were the thoughts of a machine, and the Desert Rose would never bow down to such thoughts!

Yes, it was clear now, Amy Rose in her last moments as a Mobian held onto a small bit of her old self and it was yearning for escape...

Yes, the Desert Rose would return, but she needed some help as she was still not completely free of Robotnik's control, but soon the Desert Rose would blossom once more as someone was watching her toil away and waited for an opportunity to get her out of this miserable place.

Act I: The battleground

On the outskirts of Robotropolis a storm was brewing, but not from above but from within Knuckles very soul.

He could not believe it; Amy was roboticized and in front of him was the last person to see her.

For the last few minutes, he stood there shaking with anger and soon his fury began to focus.

Knuckles the echidna was livid, all his anger was focused on the loss of his love and his hate focused on one person... Sonic the hedgehog

Sonic saw that anger as Knuckles finally exploded

"It's all YOUR fault, you miserable hedgehog I should kill you!"

"Now wait a minute, I did what I could dude. You think I left her on purpose, how stupid can you be?"  
"Save it blue boy, I have had it up to my neck with you!"  
"but she can be saved, we just need to wait a bit and we can get a power ring to help Amy!" said Sally

"Oh yeh, how long will that be?"

"Tomorrow, look we need to go back to Knothole and take a rest, we cannot act if we are all going at eachothers throats." said Sally

"Fine whatever" said Knuckles

Rouge came up to Knuckles and said, "Come on its going to be fine, we can try to rescue her you know"  
"I don't want to hear about it," said Knuckles "you know how hard it is to get someone free of Robotnik!"

"But we did it before" said Sonic "look I know someone who can help us."

"Who might you suggest then?" spat Knuckles

"Well my Uncle, he was able to break free of Robotnik's control."

"Yeh but he is not here right now!" spat Knuckles

"Actually I am right here" said a voice

The group turned around and saw Sir Charles standing right behind them

"I saw for myself that Robotnik got your friend, I saw her in the mines below."  
"Yes she is Robotnik's slave now metalface, I know!" said Knuckles with a huff

"How did you get here so fast Unc?" asked Sonic

"Secret sewer tunnels, once I saw Amy I had to make sure I caught up with you guys."

"So now your here how do you suggest we get Amy free?" spat Knuckles once more.

"Don't worry I got my own plans for her, look I can probably deroboticize her but give me time"

"And how would you know how to build such a thing anyhow?" spat Knuckles

"Because it wads I who invented the roboticizer in the first place!" said Sir Charles

But then Knuckles face turned beet red, all the rage and hatred he had before magnified a hundred fold as he shouted, "It was YOU? I am going to KILL you!"

Knuckles then leaped up and then gave a near lethal blow to the side of Sir Charles head severely denting his metallic shell

"You scum, you slime! I am going to make your now short life a living nightmare!"  
"Hey get off my uncle!" shouted Sonic as he leapt after Knuckles

The two dealt blows with eachother, Knuckles rage was eating him up as he gave blow after blow to Sonic.

"You and you miserable uncle are DEAD, do you hear me hedgehog, DEAD!"

Sonic never went through a battle like this, he never seen anyone more possessed by anger then what Knuckles was now.

The fury, the rage, the hate all swelled up in every punch Knuckles dealt, and Sonic was hurting.

"I am going to go right through you like a hot knife through butter, I am the lightning of the storm and the rage of an erupting volcano!" spat Knuckles once more

Sonic was knocked down; all the wind was literally knocked out of him.

"You are too easy blue boy; I have you right where I want you!"

"Knuckles please stop this!" shouted Rouge

"NOBODY come near, this is between blue boy, his miserable uncle and I. If ANYONE comes near me I SWEAR I will kill them too!"

There seemed to be reasoning for Knuckles, his pent up emotions got the best of him and Sonic saw this.

Sonic did not want to kill Knuckles; no Amy would not want that so he knew he had to take this crazed echidna out somehow.

Sonic used whatever strength he had left to deliver some blows of his own to Knuckles.

Knuckles pumped up on adrenaline was not going to be easy to topple over, Sonic delivered another blow to him but still Knuckles failed to fall.

"What's it going to take to knock this guy out?" thought Sonic

Then from behind, he saw Rouge prepare herself to get into this battle.

She flew up and then tackled Knuckles to the ground

"Get off of me, get off!" he cried

"No Knuckles, its time for you to listen! As your senior officer, I ORDER you to stop this attack.

With Amy gone you know I am in charge and you should know your first duty as a Rose Crest guardsman!"

"To follow the order" Spat Knuckles

"And what order is that?"

"To serve the laws of King Acorn, to respect everyone despite their past."

"Very good fellow guardsman, now please stop this attack, it serves no purpose and you know that."

"But he created this mess, if it were not for him the roboticizer would not exist!"

"Perhaps, but this will not change anything. You can't change the past by killing somebody!"

Knuckles finally began to give in as tears ran down his cheeks

"I love her... I want Amy back," he said

"We all do, look let Sir Charles do what he needs to do. I will monitor him for you while you get some rest."

"But how can I rest when I know Amy will not get any herself?"

"Look bro I went through that myself," said Sonic "I know how it feels but you know Amy would not like us to fight."

Knuckles took a few huffs and said "very well, but this does not mean I forgive metalface over there."  
"I am not asking forgiveness, I am just asking for a chance to help. Look I know how it all seems but I did not want any of this to happen to anyone I swear.

When I made the roboticizer I only wanted it to be used for good, but Robotnik made sure it was put to his use... I wish I can change the past too, but you know that sometimes the past will never change no matter how hard you try."

"Hey trust me I know," said Sonic "Sally and I tried that one already"

Knuckles grew curious

"Oh nevermind, it's a long story" said Sally

"Anyhow if you don't mind I am going to head back into the city to save your friend," said Sir Charles

"Go with him Rouge for our friend here" said Sally

Rouge nodded and the two headed back into the city.

"Let's go to Knothole," said Sally as the troop went back to their hideout, all except one who went back into the city without the knowledge of the others.

Back in the mines of Robotropolis Rouge and Sir Charles stayed hidden in the shadows, this was tough to do with all the robots around but they did the best they could.

They went deeper and deeper until they reached the main mining tunnel.

"Thanks for coming along, I could really use your help getting your friend," said Sir Charles

"No problem, so you guessed the real reason why Sally sent me with you then" replied Rouge

"It was not hard to figure out; I know Sally would not send you with me if she mistrusted me. You are very loyal aren't you?"

"To my last bit, I have been sworn to follow all orders of our beloved king. This also means I am loyal to the princess as well.

But what about you, my companion did some damage to you are you okay?"

"The advantages of being a robot is that this will fix itself after a while, don't worry I will be good as new in no time."

"I hope you can forgive Knuckles for what he did to you"

"What's to forgive, I don't blame him for what he did. It is I who does not deserve forgiveness."

"That's not true; you did not know this would happen. A very wise teacher of mine always said we are all stained by the past but we can all be cleansed by the future."

"Very wise words indeed" said Sir Charles

"Yes... but look over there, here she comes!" said Rouge

And on cue Amy walked over towards their direction

"I will get her attention while you do what you need to," said Rouge

Sir Charles nodded and then Rouge headed out to distract her roboticized ally.

Amy marched forward, ready to pick away some more in Robotniks mine.

Her robotic detection systems then began picking something up and before her robotic eyes stood Rouge the bat.

Deep inside her metallic shell Amy was relieved but she knew that her robotic programming would make her attack her friend.

Commands flashed before Amy's eyes and she found herself obeying them.

"Priority one, detain freedom fighters" she said

"Not today old friend" replied Rouge she then flew up and towards Sir Charles direction, Sir Charles came up from Amy and then used some sort of device on her, Amy felt her robotic systems shut down as Sir Charles said "help me get her out of here!"  
Rouge nodded as she helped Sir Charles pick Amy up, they then dragged her out of the mines as Rouge said, "What in the world did you do to her?"

"I gave her a shock with a device I came up with, don't worry she is fine but we got to get her to my hideout before she wakes up."  
Rouge nodded as the pair took Amy to Sir Charles hideout.

Hidden in the shadows of Robotropolis someone secretly watched Sir Charles and Rouge take Amy Rose out of the mines.

It waited for its opportunity and then when it could not be heard it then took out its communicator unit.

"Sir I have something to report to you"

"Good my agent" said Robotnik "what is it you have for me"

"I am on the trail of Rouge and a freed Workerbot, I am going to tail them to their hideout and then when I arrive I will call back to you."

"Who is the freed Workerbot?" asked Robotnik

"I will tell you in due time, for now I will keep my end of the bargain"  
"you are very cleaver my ally, very well but keep in contact"

"Yes my lord," said the spy as it followed its targets farther into the city.

It took some time to get to the outer rim of the Sir Charles hideout; it was a long and tiresome trek back to the junkyard.

They practically been out all night and Rouge could feel exhaustion run through her body as it ached all over the place.

"Come on we're almost there," said Sir Charles

"I'm right with you" Rouge replied with a small huff.

The pair came to a rest as Rouge said, "I guess the other benefit of being a robot does not have to rest real long I guess"

"Yes, though I am getting a bit wary from all this action." replied Sir Charles

"I don't blame you," said Rouge with a smile

"Hey can I lend you two a hand?" asked a voice from ahead, as Blaze soon walked into sight

The pair looked at her as she slowly approached them

"Yeh you can help us bring Amy here into his hideout," said Rouge

"As you wish," said Blaze as she lent a hand in lifting Amy's robotic body and took her farther into the junkyard

They all stopped in front of Sir Charles hideout and Sir Charles opened its front door, they then took Amy to a small holding cell in the back and put her in a restraining chair.

"There that should do it" said Sir Charles "I built that thing for an occasion like this"  
"good thinking" said Rouge

"I am going to get a signal back to the others, you guys rest while I keep an eye on her.

Rouge and Blaze nodded as they began to rest in the corners of Sir Charles hideout

He looked at Amy and smiled and knew that within a few hours she would be free.

The small back of Freedom fighters all made it into Knothole, the Babylon rouges came forward and jet spoke up

"So uhh where do we stay then?" he asked

"We have some spare huts for you guys and Knuckles if he wants one," replied Sally

"No thanks" chimed Knuckles "I don't think I will get any sleep tonight."

Just then, Nicole began to buzz as Sally pulled the small computer out of its holster.

She looked it over and knew it was another message from Sir Charles, and as she read it, her face lit up with joy.

"Hey guys, it looks like Rouge and Uncle Chuck have got Amy and have her in Chuck's hideout, looks like everything is going to be okay!"

Knuckles took a sigh of short relief but something was telling him that their troubles have just begun.

Act II: Truth and deception

The morning sun came up as a brand new day arrived.

In Robotropolis, one could not tell day from night thanks to its bleak atmosphere.

Hidden away in a garbage heap in her cell Amy Rose began to awake, she was dazed from the other night but slowly came to.

As she started to get up, she noted something was wrong in the fact she was not moving at all.

Amy's eyes focused on the restraints that held her arms and legs down and she knew she was now a captive.

she in her robotic state tried to break out, using whatever robotic strength she had to escape and beat the crap out of whoever did this to her, of course Amy knew she had to capture whoever did this to her and roboticize them but at least she would get some satisfaction out of it deep inside.

Then Rouge came into view as Amy cried "priority one, detain freedom fighters by order of Robotnik!"  
"Didn't we do all that the other night Amy? Come on girl it's unlike you to be that unoriginal"

"Gah what a low blow" said a voice from within Amy's head.

Sir Charles walked by and saw that Amy was flashing her robotic eyes in what appeared to be a code, as they flashed Sir Charles gave a laugh.

"So she is a fighter after all," he said

"What do you mean?" asked Rouge

"Her eyes are flashing a code; it reads 'I am so going to kick your butt for saying that'"

Rouge drew a large smile and said, "Well then perhaps I should rattle her cage some more then."  
Deep inside her robotic shell, Amy heard that and knew she was probably going to be in for a very long day if Rouge was going to keep doing to her.

Blaze looked at her watch and said, "I am going to go out there and see if any of the others are here yet"

Rouge nodded as Blaze headed out.

Sir Charles looked into Rouges eyes and said, "You distrust her don't you?"

"Something is up with her, and I think I know what. How about you keep an eye on Amy as I go out to check up on her."

Sir Charles nodded as Rouge headed to the corner of the hideout to have a seat, he then turned his attention to Amy and said "Don't worry, Sonic will be here any minute"  
Amy struggled a bit but deep inside she knew that hope was well on its way.

The morning sun soon came into Sally's hut as she slowly got up with a new conviction.

She felt today was going to be very important in her fight for the planets freedom, and as she got out of her bed, she looked into the bright sun as if to challenge the new day.

Could this be it, the day she had been waiting for so long?

She got out of her hut and saw the others waking up and getting to their daily routines, only two stood out among the morning jumble.

Sonic and Knuckles sat alone, it was strange seeing them together after the fight they had the previous night.

"Hello you two" she said

"Hey Sal" said Sonic

"Morning your highness" chimed Knuckles

"You know you don't have to call me that here," said Sally

Knuckles nodded "I know, but hey I do it out of respect."

"Well it's appreciated," replied Sally with a smile

Sonic looked up at her and recognized that smile; he then got up and said, "Your planning something aren't you?"

"Yes I am Sonic, listen get the others gathered around here I got something I want to say to them"  
Sonic nodded as he then helped gather all those who lived in the village together to hear what Sally had to announce.

Soon the town of Knothole was abuzz with activity; Princess Sally was ready to give her mission speech to the others as the band of freedom fighters gathered.

Finally, after a few minutes people began to settle down as Sally began her speech

"Today is a very vital day for us" she started with a commanding tone "we have news that Sir Charles Hedgehog has the Desert Rose in captivity and once we liberate her we will have an opportunity to take Robotnik down for good. There is a weapon hidden in the city we can use against Robotnik and his tyranny and the Desert Rose knows where it is located.

My friends we stand on the verge of a great victory and if we do this right we can have Robotnik out of our hair by tonight!"  
The freedom fighters cheered, all but two who could only think about the comrade they both loved and admired who waited for them in the city.

Sally began to lay out her plan to the others, the mission was simple enough and Sonic was finally given word to head out to the power ring pool, he then headed to its location with Knuckles in tow.

The pair of them sat around impatiently for the power ring pool to warm up, it was at this point Knuckles finally spoke to Sonic.

"Listen for what its worth I am sorry for what I did the other day, I just felt so angry over loosing Amy"

Sonic nodded "hey I understand dude, look I know how you feel. I know you love her, and I love her too. But I know you love her more then I could ever hope to, if this happened to Sally I would feel the same way."

"But what about your Uncle, I really totaled him the other night."

"Don't worry my Unc is pretty cool. He might be a robot but he is tough on the inside as well as the outside. It runs in my blood I guess."

"You know talking to you like this feels strange after all what I put you through."

"Well if you want we can beat eachother up over there if you want."

Knuckles gave out a loud laugh as he said, "it's a date I guess, perhaps you are not so bad after all"  
"I do my best," said Sonic

"I bet you do," laughed Knuckles as soon the power ring pool began to glow

"Ah its gametime bro" said Sonic

The power ring pool then produced what Sonic had been waiting for as he grabbed it

"Way past cool" said Sonic

"Well I am ready to head out when you are," said Knuckles "let's knock em out!"

"Waitaminute bro, I want to show you how it's done around here"

Sonic then taught Knuckles the same handshake that he and Sally did before going on missions, and soon together they shouted "let's do it to it" and soon the two headed back into the village prepared for battle.

Outside of Sir Charles hideout Blaze smiled as she waited, her ally told her that in any minute that he would be here and their plans could begin.

A beep came onto her communicator as she said "yes?"

"How are things going Blaze?" said a voice on the other end

"Perfectly, I have everything set in motion. No one suspects a thing, not even my benefactors."  
"Good, keep me posted"

"Yes sir" said Blaze as she waited for her contact to arrive unaware she was being watched from the distance by a spy eye camera.

In Robotnik's headquarters plans were underway, Robotnik stood in front of a display of his newest creation.

"Just look at it Snively, my final solution to the Freedom fighter problem, The Doomsday Project my ultimate triumph!"

This will ensure my rule on this miserable planet, with this I can eliminate that hedgehog."

Snively took a nod as he said "sir I feel we have a traitor, that spy you have I feel they are set to double cross us."

"Oh I know Snively; our spy is not fooling anybody. I smell an assassin, a Shadow in the mist so to speak."

"I get you; they work for that traitorous black menace."

"Exactly, but don't worry I will fix things soon enough I have a special surprise waiting for our little friends. Two of my Doomsday test pods are ready for operation and its time to give it a test. Everything is going to as I planned it. Soon there will be no one to stop us once the project goes underway. Everything will soon fall into place and I will come out dominant at last"

"Yes sir" said Snively as he began to go about his normal duties.

A lot of the heaviest hitters in the Freedom fighters were now on the outskirts of Robotropolis, the Babylon Rouges, princess Sally, Bunnie Rabbot, Rotor Walrus, Sonic, Knuckles and of course Antoine though the others knew he was not going to be much use as per usual.

"Now everyone remember the plan we all head separate directions to Uncle Chuck's hideout, we want to confuse Robotnik's patrols so he won't be aware of what we are doing, and then from there we hit him hard with the cannon once Amy is free. She is vital to our plans as she knows more about the cannon then we do, from there we will figure out how the cannon works and take siege of the city!"

"What if people are hurt though?" asked someone nearby

"I don't like the idea better then we do but we have to try," said Sally

"Sally girl I am going to head off with my group now" said Bunnie

The three Babylon Rogues came in behind her

"Don't worry we swear we will protect her with honor" said Jet

Sally nodded as Bunnie and her group headed to towards the east.

Sonic and Knuckles came forward and said "I guess now we two head for Uncle Chucks place"

"Don't do anything foolish without me," scolded Sally

"Don't worry Princess we can take care of ourselves" replied Knuckles

"I'm sure you can," said Sally with a sigh, but then they too headed off into the city.

"Alright my group lets head out next!" said Sally, soon they all moved in unprepared for the nightmare to come.

A wind blew across the junkyard as Sonic and Knuckles had arrived at their destination.

"So this is where your uncle hides out then," said Knuckles

"Yup, my Unc's very good at hiding. We should be at his hiding spot in no time.

As the two walked onward, the pair spotted Blaze standing by Sir Charles hideout.

"Greetings you two" she said with a smile

"Hey blaze, how things hangin?" asked Sonic

"Peachy keen" she said with a small smile

The two walked to the junkheap where Sonic's uncles hideout resided, Sonic knocked on the "door" of it and said "Uncle Chuck were here"

The "door" opened and the pair walked in

Sir Charles gave them a smile and said, "Glad you two are here"

Sonic nodded as Knuckles approached Sir Charles

"I apologize for what I did to you," he said

"No problem" replied Sir Charles "all is forgiven; I understand why you lashed out on me like that."

"Still, I am sorry I had no excuse for what I did"

"Believe me you did, I am the one responsible for this whole mess but I am trying my best to atone for my sin"

"In any case I am glad to see you are doing better," said Rouge as she gave Knuckles a smile

Knuckles gave her a nod "let's help give Amy back her freedom"

Rouge nodded and they all walked to Amy's small cell, they looked on at her as they walked in

"Don't worry its going to be fine" said Sonic as he put his hand on Knuckles shoulder

Knuckles nodded as they got to the door of the cell.

She still sat in her restraining chair struggling as Sir Charles opened the door of the cell.

Sonic pulled out the power ring and then put it in Amy's robotic hand.

Knuckles, Sonic and Rouge stood side by side as Sonic said "Come on Amy, come back to us!"

"Come on girl I know you are stronger then Robotnik, fight him!" said Rouge

Then Knuckles came forward

"Amy, remember our homeland, Mallikad, our childhood, our home... the towering spires, the once beautiful kingdom where the Desert Rose blossomed.

Remember the day Robotnik attacked us, remember the day we lost Cream and Big, remember our adventures in the wastelands."

Amy blinked her eyes; a memory came to surface...

Yes the beautiful kingdom, the terrors! The hardship, the tragedy and the grief.

But she remembered the city as it was, pristine, almost golden in its beauty.

The happiness, the joy, the friends.

She remembered her father, the beautiful gardens, her mother and her first encounter with Knuckles.

"Yes," she said "there was you, I remember the day we met... It was a wonderful day in Mallikad, Princess Sally was there, but wait so where you Sonic."  
Sonic looked puzzled as Amy said, "Yes it all makes sense to me now, the reason we feel so connected.

Sonic we met before, you don't remember it but I do.

Our families were friends, your uncle brought you over a few times but until now, I didn't remember.

We all met on the same day, our families were all together for a festival celebrating the end of the war.

I remember us being so happy, you left that day Sonic but Knuckles stayed.

Our destines were tied from that day onward, a connection between you, me, Knuckles and Sally."

Visions of Mallikad had come to the surface in Amy's mind; she saw the great palace in its splendor, a tower made of pure marble.

"Yes, we lived in that city peacefully for many years Sonic. Knuckles and I were raised by my fathers order while you were sent back to your kingdom.

My childhood was happy; Knuckles and I grew together and became so close.

I remember it so clearly now, we played together in the great gardens all the time. You acted like a bully sometimes though Knuckles but I knew you were only doing it to defend me.

I remember the day of Robotnik's coup, the day we so dread. But I swore I would carry on the legacy to my death."  
Amy pushed through, her mind now coming to terms with the outside world.

Her eyes sparked as Amy broke through her programming

"Yes, I am coming back!" she said, "I am going to fight this thing on my own! I am Amy Rose, I am known to my enemies as the desert rose! And I swear I will never let Robotnik take hold of me again!"

Amy gave out a loud cry as finally she felt back in control of herself

She then gave the others a smile and said "thank you"

"Your welcome, man you must be stubborn though" said Sonic with a small tear

"I do my best," said Amy

"So are you sure you are going to be okay?" asked Knuckles

"Yes, I will be fine," said Amy with a nod "but I guess this means we can't free Lord Claw now."

Sonic nodded "I'm sorry"

Amy shook her head "no it's alright; I know I was important to you. But this means we can't use the cannon."

"You mean the cannon that is under the city?" asked Sir Charles

"Yes, you know about it?" asked Amy

"I do, who do you think made the main power unit of the thing, and the one that was in Mallikad"  
"you mean you made those things as well as the roboticizer?" asked Knuckles

"Wait a minute it was you who invented that thing?" asked Amy

"Look as my days as a scientist I made all sorts of things, all were supposed to be put to good purpose. I made a mistake with the roboticizer, and it is one that I heavily regret."

"Don't feel angry at him," said Sonic "I know Knuckles was angry but please don't blame my Uncle, he blames himself enough."

Amy took a nod "I guess I rushed to judgment, I guess I am more like you Knuckles then I realized."

"I guess that's what you get by hanging out with me," said Knuckles as he rubbed his head

Amy then turned to Sir Charles and said "But if you invented the roboticizer, is there a way you can change me back?"

Sir Charles then shook his head "not yet, I am so sorry."  
"Its alright then" said Amy "well how about we get out of here, I am sure the others are waiting for us."

"Let me come with you," said Sir Charles "If we need that cannon I can help you with it."

Amy gave a nod and they all soon came outside.

Sally's party had reached the inner core of the city

"Well here we wait for the others," said Sally

"But zey are late" said Antoine

"I know, but they have quite a task in freeing Amy" she replied

"But I am worried, Robotnik's patrols are not as active tonight" said Rotor

"That worries me too; hopefully the others will be here soon."

Then the ground beneath them began to shake as before them two saucer shaped craft came out of the ground.

"Just what in the world are those things?" asked Sally

"Something tells me we are not going to like finding out," said Rotor as the strange objects before them came at them with a flurry of laser blasts...

Act III: Doomsday

Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, Amy and Sir Charles all came out of the hideout

Blaze gave them a smile as she said, "So Amy you are free now huh?"

"Yes and I intend to stay that way" said Amy "so where are the others supposed to be at?"

"They are heading to the center of the city," said Sonic

"I see, well lets go to them. But I have no weapons now, my attack rod was taken away from me" said Amy

"Here use this," said Sir Charles as he pulled out a large rod from the junkheap "this one here looks real sturdy and is almost rust free."

Amy looked it over "yeh it will do," she said "I can make it work, only the one I had is one made for the Rose crest army, I got it from my father."

"Hey I understand," said Sonic "but it looks like you will have to use something different now"

"I know" she said, "Well we have a date with destiny folks, let's not keep it waiting"

They moved on and heard loud noises coming from afar, then as they reached the center of the city they saw Sally, Antoine and Rotor being attacked by a pair of strange looking craft.

"What is going on here?" asked Knuckles

"They are under attack!" said Sonic "come on we got to help them!"

Knuckles, Rouge and Amy nodded as they leapt into combat.

Knuckles looked behind at Blaze and said "what are you waiting for, help us!"

"Sorry, not my business now!" said Blaze as she ran off

"What in the world was that about?" asked Amy

"Nevermind her, we can take this thing by ourselves!" said Sonic

The three went off to defend their allies completely unaware of what they were dealing with.

Blaze ran off, she pulled out her communicator and then said, "Hey boss Robotnik is set to betray us, why did you allow me to spy for him anyway?"

"Because I needed a decoy," said the voice on the other end

"What do you mean decoy? You said you would meet me here!" asked Blaze with a huff

"I cannot let Robotnik suspect I am plotting to kill him and take over the city for myself, so I sent him you. I have called him up and he is sending some of his friends to you, I'm sorry Blaze but I have my own plans"  
"Curse you Shadow the hedgehog!" she spat as she soon found herself surrounded by a small army of SwatBots.

The trio of Amy Rouge and Sonic pounded away at the device that was attacking them, Sir Charles looked on and said, "Blast, they are doomsday pods! I thought Robotnik hadn't finished them yet!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Knuckles

"Robotnik had been working on these things for a little while now, while I was under his control I helped him build the inner cores of these things! They are almost indestructible; you might not be able to beat them!"

"You can't be serious," said Sonic

"Sorry Sonny but I am!" Sir Charles replied

"Man!" cried Sonic again as the two pods fired at them

"What about the cannon, cant we use it to stop these things?" asked Amy

"It could work, but it needs two operators!" said Sir Charles

"Then I go with you" said Amy

"Wait a minute, you are not going anywhere" said Knuckles "remember what happened with the other cannon?"

"I know, but if this kills me it will be with honor," said Amy

"I want to do it too Sonic" said Sir Charles "don't worry about me"

"Just promise me you two will come back!" said Sonic

"We will," said Amy as both she and Sir Charles ran off

"I hope they make it," said Knuckles as the Doomsday pods continued their attacks.

Once again, Amy found herself under the streets of the city, but this time it was under her own will.

She and Sir Charles wondered the underground for some time almost in reach of their goal.

"we should be there in a few minutes, its lucky for you I know where it is and how to operate it." said Sir Charles "I know it has a combination, but who do you think gave Lord Claw the code in the first place?"

"Hopefully lord Claw never changed it" said Amy

"Even if he did I am very good at cracking combination codes, you are in good hands Amy"

"So why did you build the roboticizer then?" she asked

"To heal the sick and the injured, but it had a nasty side effect of robbing people of their free will. I was going to fix it but my plans were already sent out to the war ministry and eventually to Robotnik. I never wanted any of this to happen; perhaps it is irony that I got roboticized myself."

"We will find a way of changing things back," said Amy "look there it is!"

Before them stood a large cannon that mirrored its destroyed counterpart in Mallikad

"Before we use it though I will warn you we will only get a few shots out of it, after that we have to get out of here before it blows. There was a big flaw with these in the power units, something else that slipped me by."

"We can deal with that bit later, come lets open her up," said Amy

The pair came up to the door and Sir Charles punched in the combination of the cannon and its door opened

"Ha we are in luck!" said Sir Charles as the pair went inside of it.

The Doomsday pods were on a rampage, causing nothing but trouble for the three fighters.

"Just how in the world are we supposed to beat these things!" said Knuckles

"I don't know they seem really tough!" spat Rouge

"We have to try to divert them somehow!" cried Sonic

A few blasts came at the two pods from afar; the trio looked around and saw the three Babylon Rogues attack the pods with small lasers.

"We got some friends!" said Knuckles

"We are here to help you," said Wave

"We saw these things attack you, we had to try to help" said Jet

"But your blasts didn't do anything" said Sonic "I don't think its going to be easy to take these things out!"

"We have to wait for Amy I guess," said Rouge

"Easier said then done!" said Sonic as the Doomsday pods continued their attacks.

"Are you ready for this?" asked Sir Charles "you know we could possibly die"  
"I am willing to risk it," said Amy "my life for the others."  
"Very noble, your father would be proud." said Sir Charles "I knew him"  
"I know, my father got around in the old days."

"Tell me though, can you forgive me for the mistakes I did in my past?"

Amy nodded "my father always said we are all stained by the past but we can all be cleansed by the future."

"Ah so that is where Rouge got it from," said Sir Charles

"So she told it already, my father was a mentor to all of us in Mallikad"

"I am sure he was, well let's take this thing up and give it a whirl," said Sir Charles

Amy gave a nod as the cannon lifted up and out of its hiding place.

The Freedom Fighters were having a very tough time fighting the two Doomsday pods, it was getting long and drawn out.

For Sonic, he rather be stuck in megamuck then to go through this mess, the troublesome Doomsday pods would not go down no matter what they tried.

"Whatever Amy and Sir Charles is doing they better do it fast" said Wave

"We can't last much longer against this thing!" said Jet

Then the ground below them began to shake, the group thought it was another doomsday pod on its way but out of the ground came a large cannon.

"It's them!" said Sally "clear out of here before that cannon fires!"

The group all halted their attacks as the cannon rose up to the surface.

"Primary ignition underway, targets within range" said Sir Charles

"I hope this works," said Amy as the front end of the cannon lit up and a large blast came at the two doomsday pods.

The blast took them head on, ripping them apart as it fired its blast.

Inside the cannon, sparks flew as Sir Charles said, "Let's get out of here!"

The two quickly opened the door of the cannon as it sparked and then exploded.

The pair were able to escape as pieces of both the Doomsday Pods and the cannon flew all over the place.

The battle was over.

After a little while the team had gathered together, Rotor looked at the pieces of the Doomsday pods and said, "I better take a few of these home"

Meanwhile Amy and Knuckles stood together as Knuckles gave a sigh

"I am so glad to have you back Amy, but you're roboticized. I don't know how it's going to work out for us now."

"I am willing to stay this way until Sir Charles develops a way to change me back, but yeh it troubles me that I am roboticized and you are not," said Amy

Knuckles then turned to Sir Charles and said "then how about you roboticize me, I rather you guys do it to me then let Robotnik have me"  
"are you sure?" asked Amy

Knuckles gave her a nod "I love you Amy, and I want to be there with you by your side. I am willing to sacrifice myself for you."

"If you want to do it we have a de roboticizer back at Knothole that we can convert back to a roboticizer if you wish," said Rotor

"If it means being with you Amy I would do anything"

Amy nodded as the group slowly made their way back to Knothole.

Epilogue

In knothole village Knuckles looked over his new robotic body, he then looked over at Amy and gave her a nod

"So how do you feel?" asked Sonic

"Pretty good surprisingly, I should thank your Uncle for the modifications he did to the roboticizer to keep my mind free." said Knuckles

Sonic then came up to Amy and said, "Now you don't be a stranger, and you keep an eye on this big lug for me."

Amy nodded "but what about you and I are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

Sonic gave her a nod of his own "they need me here, and Knuckles needs you. Hey I know better then to compete with a guy like that, trust me I know what people like him are like."  
"I bet you do," said Amy

Sonic then gave her a kiss on her metal cheek

"I can still feel you" she said, "You are so kind inside you know"

"Yeh, just don't tell Sally okay?" asked Sonic

"Will do," said Amy

Knuckles and Amy then came to Sally as Amy gave her a nod

"You take real good care of Sonic for me; I hope to meet him again in the future."

"Are you sure you two are going to be alright?" asked Sally

"I will be fine; I intend to go back out to the wastelands to fight Robotnik's evil out there again. I will never let him take control of me again, and when the day comes for his downfall I hope to be there myself," said Amy

"Well you guys take care, and good luck out there," said Sally

Amy and Knuckles nodded as they joined Rouge and the Babylon Rogues soon headed out.

Within a short time, the desert rose had blossomed again, protecting the desert from all who wish to harm it.

As Amy and Knuckles held hands, they knew that the future was uncertain, but with their love, they knew that someday more Desert Roses might spread one day and sprout to protect the future.

In Robotropolis a figure looked on at the Workerbots below it, a specific roboticized cat came into view.

"So what do we do now?" asked a weasel who joined its companion

"We wait, we observe this Sonic the hedgehog for a little while and when the time is right, my Shadow shall befall him"

The two then walked off as the cogs of the future turned...

The End

Amy Rose, Sonic and the rest will return in "the Shadows of the night"

My next incredible saga!


End file.
